Mary st



(No Model.)

M. ST. JOHN.

BED PAN.

No. 448,691. Patented Mar. 24, 1891.

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PATENT MARY ST. JOHN, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

BED-

PAN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 448,691, dated March24, 1891.

Application filed October 28, 1890. Serial No. 369,019. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it-known that I, MARY ST. JOHN, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city,

county, and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvementsin Bed-Pans, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in bed-pans such as are used in thesick-room and hospitals by patients who are unable to rise from theirbeds to evacuate the bladder and bowels.

The objects of my improvements are, first, to provide such a bed-pan ascan be not only employed as a receptacle of urinal and fecal dischargesof the sick, but which can be also used to give the patienta localdouche, either liquid or vapor; second, to provide a hinged andpractically air-tight cover to such bedpans to conceal from view theiroffensive contents when being removed from the bed, but especially toprevent the escape into the atmosphere of the sick-room of the poisonousdisease-bearing effluvia of fecal discharges, as in cases of cholera,typhus fever, &c., as

also to enable the nurse to more effectively" disinfect such discharges,and to utilize the cover, when the bed-pan is applied to the patient, aspart of the bearingsupport 011 which the body of the patient rests. Iattain these objects by the peculiar construction of my device, asillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a topview of the device as it appears with the cover closed; Fig.2, a topView as seen with the cover open; Fig. 3, a section seen on the line 3 3of Fig. 3, andFig. r a section seen on the line i 4 of Fig. 3.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

A represents the shell or bowl of the pan; B, the cover; C, the nozzleor discharge-opening; D, the aperture into the pan; E, Fig. 1, thehandle of the cover and its (the covers) support when the patient restsupon it; F, the handle by which the pan is carried, whether it be emptyor otherwise, and D a sliding bolt for fastening the cover.

a is a staple or socket into which the sliding bolt D is thrust to holdthe cover.

I) is the hinge of the cover.

e and c are the legs of the handle E,which are joined in the tube e, andall taken together constitute the handle of the cover, and which, byplacing 6 under the raised end d (see Fig. 3) of the bolt D, serves asthe support of the cover when the pan is in use.

(Best shown by Fig. 3.) c e of this cover handle and support is hingedto the cover cl and c are two posts in the cover, under the heads ofwhich slides the bolt D. The peculiar construction of this handle andsupport of the cover enables it to be folded flat down to the cover andso out of the way when it is not in use.

The outlet-nozzle O, as seen in Fig. 1,is provided on its exteriorsurface with a thread for screwing on a cap 0, as seen in Fig. 2, or forscrewing on a hose-pipe O, as seen in Fig. 4, when it is required togive the patient the douche.

The cover B, when closed, as seen in Fig. 4, is oval on top; but when itis open, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, it is concave on top, Fig. 3, beingseen on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2, the concavity of the cover beingprovided to more, or less accurately conform to the human body.

The shell or bowl of the pan may be made of any suitable material, asplain metal, or porcelain-lined metal, or rubber, 630., while the covermay be made of the same material or some other-that is, the cover neednot necessarily be made of the same material as the shell or bowl of thepan.

I am aware that simple, removable, and detached covers are used onbed-pans, but that they are not otherwise employed than such simplecovers and do not otherwise form a part of the bed-pan, and the onlyfunction of such detachable covers is to simply close the bed -pan afterit has been used by the patient, as shown, for example, in Patent No.380,478, issued April 3,1888,t0 K. M. Duffey. Therefore I do not claim,broadly, a simple cover for or connected to bed-pans, whether detachedor attached thereto by hinges or otherwise; @but it will be seen that inmy device the cover 13 is not only employed as a cover for closing thebed-pan, but that when it (the cover) is opened and the pan is in usethe chief function of this socalled cover is to serve as an extension orfolding platform of the bed-pan itself, in that it takes the place ofthe nose end of thepan (asit is usually made) and furnishes support forthe body of the patient, it (the cover) being concave When open to adaptit for this purpose. By the double use of this cover-extension the pan(when it is folded or shut) is made much shorter and so more convenientto handle. In fact, the cover B, I prefer to and will term afoldingplatform extension of the bed-pan instead of calling it a cover,which extension,wl1en folded up on the bowl A, serves as a cover to theaperture 1).

Having pointed out the various parts of my device and more or lessdescribed their func tions, no further explanation of its operationseems necessary WVhat I claim as new and useful, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is

1. In a bed-pan, the bowl A, haviiu, the nonzle C, cap C, and aperturel),in combination I with the folding-platform extension 13, attached byhinges to the nose end of the bowl, so as to form a platform-supportwhen unfolded and a cover to the aperture 1) when folded, substantiallyin the manner and for the purpose described.

2. In a bed-pan,tl1e bowl A, having the nozzle C, cap C, and aperture1), in combination with the cover B, having the folding handle andsupport E, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In a bed-pan, the bowl A,having the nozzle C, cap (1, aperture D, andhose-pipe C", carrying handle F,in combination with the cover 13, havingthe folding handle and sup port E, and sliding belt I), substantially inthe manner and for the purpose described.

MARY ST. JOHN.

Witnesses:

M. BARNETT, WM. R. CAMPBELL.

